Please be respectful when making a comment and adhere to our Community Guidelines. The potential of retail still goes largely unrealised: In Ethiopia, Egypt, Ghana and Nigeria, nearly three-quarters of groceries are bought in tiny informal outlets. Estimates place Africa’s growth at 2.2% in 2016, which is down from 3.4% the previous year. In order to make a dent in the unemployment rate, the economy needs to grow at about 6% plus. You can read more about these and other African economic facts on How we made it in Africa. First, policymakers could encourage expansion of large-scale commercial farming on to uncultivated land. “Morocco, for instance, is benefiting from FDI flows to the auto industry, with greenfield investment in 2016 amounting to US$1.3bn, notably from PSA Peugeot-Citroen and Renault (France) and Ford (US). Many other emerging markets have transformed their employment landscapes and made sweeping gains in economic growth, and with the right policies in place, Africa has the right ingredients to produce similar success. Copyright © 2020 — Maritz Publishing. Polls suggest that 80% of Africans view entrepreneurship as a “good career opportunity”, and the continent has the highest proportion of adults who are starting or running new businesses. This would lift millions more Africans out of poverty and vault millions of others into the consuming class. “New industrialisation strategies should focus on leveraging this dynamism and targeting the continent’s fast-growing private enterprises which have potential to create quality jobs.”, 9. Although both these economies have been struggling lately. The continent now has around 90 million people who fit this definition. Overall, the past 10 years have seen Morocco’s financial institutions expand their sub-Saharan Africa footprint through numerous acquisitions across the continent, with Moroccan banks now present in more than 20 African countries. The report was released earlier this week at the AfDB’s annual meeting. Although it has created 37 million stable, wage-paying jobs over the past decade, 91 million people have been added to its labour force. As a result, 9 per cent of the workforce is officially unemployed, and nearly two thirds of workers sustain themselves through subsistence activities and low-wage self-employment. Ten countries absorbed over 90% of new foreign direct investment (FDI) projects. 1. Overall, Chinese firms contributed $38.4bn to African greenfield projects for the period. The plan is for it to be implemented in October 2017 and, if successful, it will become the world’s largest free trade area by number of countries. Africa is investing less in the outside world. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Poverty is also on the retreat. The economic outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is positive, with growth rising to 5.3% in 2012, and 5.6% in 2013, over the pre-crisis average level of 5%. African workers are better educated than ever before. “The decline in extractive resources as sources of growth is reflected across most of Africa. 2. High transportation and input costs, duties and bureaucracy are some of the obstacles that have hindered African manufacturing. Companies from the US came in fourth place, investing around $10.4bn. POSTED Jun 1, 2017 BY Independent Premium Comments can be posted by members of our membership scheme, Independent Premium. In Egypt, youth unemployment is 25 per cent. Three regional trade groups have also agreed to the formation of a mega trade bloc, the Tripartite Free Trade Area – consisting of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC) and Southern African Development Community (SADC). You can find our Community Guidelines in full here. “Overall, the past 10 years have seen Morocco’s financial institutions expand their sub-Saharan Africa footprint through numerous acquisitions across the continent, with Moroccan banks now present in more than 20 African countries.”, 6. Three sectors have a proven capacity to create jobs and can do so in the future: agriculture, manufacturing, and retail and hospitality. The research suggests that eliminating tariffs within this mega trade bloc could expand intra-regional trade by 30%. The rest are net importers of goods and services. While 33 per cent of Africans in the labour force receive secondary education, 39 per cent of workers in India and 66 per cent in China receive education at this level. The economy of South Africa is the second largest in Africa. Due to the sheer scale of this comment community, we are not able to give each post the same level of attention, but we have preserved this area in the interests of open debate. Steady work is still hard to find in Africa. Polls suggest that 80% of Africans view entrepreneurship as a “good career opportunity”, and the continent has the highest proportion of adults who are starting or running new businesses. For the sake of social and political stability, Africa needs to accelerate its creation of stable jobs that are the route to lasting prosperity and an expanding consuming class. Maritz Publishing disclaims all liability for any loss, damage, injury or expense however caused, arising from the use of, or reliance upon, in any manner, the information provided through this service and does not warrant the truth, accuracy or completeness of the information provided. But capturing this potential will mean a change in development strategy, Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile. Morocco leads cross-border capital investment in the continent, with about $8bn announced for 2015-2016. It is estimated that East Africa’s economy expanded by 5.3% last year. 7. The future for Africa looks bright – but there's still a lot of work to be done. Africa has highest proportion of entrepreneurs in world. It would also cut the time needed to reach East Asia's percentage of stable employment by more than half, from over 50 years to just 20 years. Create a commenting name to join the debate, There are no Independent Premium comments yet - be the first to add your thoughts, There are no comments yet - be the first to add your thoughts. However, the report noted that these entrepreneurs tend to operate in sectors where productivity remains low. Africa has been the second-fastest-growing region in the world over the past 10 years, with average annual growth of 5.1 per cent over the past decade, driven by greater political stability and economic reforms that have unleashed the private sector in many countries. “Although the extractive sector accounted for the bulk of investment, some countries are focusing on less capital-intensive services and manufacturing sectors to reduce their vulnerability to commodity price developments,” notes the report. North Africa was the second-fastest growing region at 3%, followed by Southern Africa (1.1%), and then Central Africa (0.8%). Africa’s FDI flows to the rest of the world declined in 2016, reversing a trend seen over the last few years. 7. Commodity extraction and exportation has historically been a source of growth for many African countries. All Rights Reserved. A new consuming class has taken its place: since 2000, 31 million African households have joined the world's consuming class.

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